Saturday's blood bath

We spent the whole day feezin. Saw nothing. I'm hearin the same from everyone. Was it the full moon??????? What d'ya think?

Do you fellows remember all the talk in archery season about not finding many rubs or scrapes and wondering if the rut was late in your area. The rut peaks within a tight timeframe every year regardless of the weather. You don't suppose there may have been another reason for so little sign as compared to other years do you.

i think the tics scared all the deer and they left.

ORIGINAL: S-10

Do you fellows remember all the talk in archery season about not finding many rubs or scrapes and wondering if the rut was late in your area. The rut peaks within a tight timeframe every year regardless of the weather. You don't suppose there may have been another reason for so little sign as compared to other years do you.

I do have an answer for you but it won't make you happy because you want everyone to think there are less deer.

I took a buddy of mine out Saturday afternoon.  I heard very, very few shots compared to what is typical for that area, especially on the last Saturday of the season.

However, for us it was all good.  We saw a few does, a small buck, and another buck that my buddy was able to connect on.  It was his first deer and his first buck.  It was a pretty nice 8 point that was roughly 16" wide on the inside.

I vote for the wolves also.They are doing the job expected of them..WF

Full moon + big foot.....

I don't mine shooting doe,when you see several a day but this year was bad. I hunted all day the first day and 18 out of 22 morning or evening sits the rest of the season,total deer 49 of them 4 bucks none legal.1st day best 8 doe 1 6pt.1st Sat. 7 doe,hunted behind my house saw 7 doe 1 small buck,next day behind the house 6 doe 1 small buck. I always wait to shoot a doe the last couple days,well I messed up this year hunted all day Fri. saw a whopping total 1 spike,hunted all day the last day saw a whopping total of 1 adult doe and let her walk at 40 yards. If everybody keeps shooting the only doe they see,well I think you all know the answer. LESS DEER S-10 I'm with you.What's it going to be like in 5 or 10 years of more HR

alot less gun shots on the last saturday compared to the 1st. Heard about 100 shots as compared to 500 on the 1st sat.

Chris,

They just moved from your backyard to mine is all.

Chris, you pretty much surmised the same situation I experienced in my neck of the woods.

ORIGINAL: S-10

What would make me happy is if you'd stop making assumptions like people aren't seeing the sign they usually because there are less deer. I understand the timing of the rut and why I didn't see much buck sign. Once the shooting starts, the secret is out, even in the big areas. The answer for my area is that the deer are in the fields, many a mile away. Even the amish didn't do well. With 99% of the mountains having no acorns, there is no reason for the deer to be up there. We hunted closer to the fields friday and saw 33 between four of us.

Your the one who posted about not hearing many shots on an ideal Saturday. What did you do, hunt back in the mountains where there wern't any deer again. Bucks leave very noticable sign if they are in the area during late Oct and early Nov. That is archery season. Folks on here, including yourself were commenting on the lack of sign. It takes deer to leave deer sign. If you wern't seeing much sign in your area it's because there were not many deer in your area, Did the four of you see 33 DIFFERENT deer or just bounce the same 4-5 back and forth between you like has been done for decades. Did they have numbers 1-33 painted on their sides or are you just making an assumption of how many there were?

No, the guys that hunt the fields have mostly tagged bucks and many don't shoot doe, so that is why there was lack of shooting. I just wanted to blame the game comm for shooting all them. The fields are private so hunter numbers are limited. And there ain't many people that can phyiscally get down there from public land as it is long and rough. As for sightings, 12 in a group, then 15, then 3 at the end of the day. Considering they were about six miles apart, they weren't the same deer. I know you wish they were, but....

I cannot believe there are actually people on websites that try to argue specifics about other's areas. It really exposes your agenda.

What a desperate twist. I never had an agenda. I call it as I see it. No deer guys just don't like it. My deer herd is nearly twice as strong as it was 3-4 years ago. It wasn't hurt this year either because the deer weren't where the majority of hunters could get to them. Because of that, it'll be even stronger next year.

You sure spend a lot of time calling complainers names. Did somebody hurt your fillins' at some point ?

Earth to S-10. (LOL) The fields are private. The folks that have access to them are limited. Many of the guys that hunt there tagged a buck and do not shoot doe. That would mean, they were not hunting... hence the lack of shooting. It is not easy to get down there from public land, although there is public land there along the fields.. hence again, the lack of shooting. Do you "get it" ???

All I know is, my season was slow as far as "shooter" bucks went.  Passed up a couple smallish 2.5 yr old 8 points at different times but saw plenty of doe/fawns.  I did see one "shooter" one AM but he was too far away and I only caught a glimpse of him through the fog.  My core archery area was getting pressured more so than in the past (walking through an area I had left alone as a sanctuary and cutting off trails leading to where I was) and I started branching out to other areas and started seeing more deer.  Towards the end of the season I did start to see a lot more buck sign but my time in the woods was limited due kids/wife being sick. 
 
I was out this past Sat. for a couple hrs with bow in hand and heard some shooting but not a lot and did have 22 deer sightings, all doe/fawns, with 8 of those being the same deer seen about 1/2 hr later backtracking.  None of the mature doe came into range for me.  I only hunted until 10/10:30am.  Might get out late season but might not.  First legal mature doe in range will be getting a Magnus 2 blade in the boilermaker...